Five new clean-diesel MTA buses on the road, so far

Mendocino Transit Authority received five new 40-foot, clean diesel, low-floor buses from mid- to late March and put them on the road as they arrived, according to Marketing and Planning Coordinator Glenna Blake.

MTA purchased the buses with $2.4 million in state Public Transportation Modernization money, and expects to use $1.3 million of state Transit Improvement Program money to buy three more of the same kind from Gillig of Hayward this December and in January 2014, according to Blake. Hybrid buses, according to Blake, "are almost double the cost."

The purchases are part of MTA's ongoing effort to replace the nine large coaches in its 49-bus fleet, she said.

"The new buses are powered by the cleanest and most efficient diesel engines," MTA Maintenance Manager Bob Butler said. He went on to explain that the new buses each have a catalytic system that lowers exhaust emissions by more than 90 percent, "running cleaner than most automobiles."

He said early data indicates that the new buses are much more fuel-efficient than the 1996 buses they replace, and will save 20 to 25 percent in miles per gallon.

In addition, Blake said the new buses offer passengers several other improvements. One of the biggest, she said, is the low-floor function, which allows a bus driver to lower the bus to the curb level at a bus stop with the push of a button and deploy a ramp. That eliminates the need for drivers to push wheelchairs up the incline of the old lifts and allows easier access for others who have trouble climbing stairs, she said.

MTA driver David Ryan said when he started working for MTA 15 years ago, the agency had just received the first two of nine Gillig buses.

"I thought they were the greatest thing I had ever driven," he said. "Now, with the low-floor, lower emissions and 15 years of improved technology, those older buses seem like antiques."

Bus driver Jim Nunn also praised the kneel-down feature of the new buses.

"It is so much easier for seniors, kids, people carrying groceries and moms with strollers to get on and off the bus," he said. "Passengers tell me they feel much safer not being up in the air."

The two drivers also called a "vast improvement" the power-assisted steering that makes turning the 40-foot buses "so effortless," according to Blake.

Another labor-saving feature is the all-automatic, hands-free public address system, she said.

"It is the best intercom system we have ever had," Nunn said. "Just by stepping on a button, I can call out the stops and everyone can hear."

Other advances include electric windshield wipers instead of air-operated ones that tended to stick, according to Blake, along with electronic destination signs that are brighter and easier to read, and that show which direction the bus is traveling.

The new buses also feature automatic fire-suppression systems, sleeker front window design, raised rear floors so the people in the back of the buses can see better and improved accessibility to the engine compartments for the mechanics.

Butler said the new buses give him a sense of deja vu.

"When we replaced our very old Gilligs with nine new Gilligs starting in 1996, MTA went from having the oldest fleet in California to the newest," he said. "When we replace our old Gillig coaches with the eight new low-floor, clean diesel coaches, we will once again have one of the newest heavy-duty bus fleets in California."